NBCSN drew an average of 935,000 viewers for its coverage of Capitals-Blackhawks Tuesday, making it the most-watched season opener on record for cable, and the second most-watched regular-season game ever on the net. Viewership for the game was up 7% compared to the Flyers-Bruins season opener in '11-12, which was the last time the season began in October. Chicago saw a 7.32 rating for Tuesday's game, the highest ever for a regular-season game in that market on NBCSN. Meanwhile, more than 2.3 million viewers tuned into the CBC for Maple Leafs-Canadiens at 7:00pm ET, the first of a season-opening doubleheader. The game overall reached nearly 7.6 million Canadians. The CBC's late game, Jets-Oilers at 10:00pm, showed a 5% increase compared to the first Prime West game of the '11-12 season, with an average audience of nearly 1.05 million viewers (THE DAILY).
LEADING THE WAY: Fox led all NFL Week 4 telecasts with a 16.1 final rating and 27 million viewers for its national window, which featured Eagles-Broncos. Regional coverage in the 1:00pm window earned a 9.4 rating with 14.3 million viewers. The net’s “Fox NFL Sunday” pregame show posted a 3.2 final rating with 4.7 million viewers. CBS’ singleheader had an 8.2 rating with 13.3 million viewers. The net’s “The NFL Today” pregame show earned a 1.9 rating (2.9 million viewers). The Patriots’ 30-23 victory over the Falcons on “SNF” averaged 20.5 million viewers with a 12.5 rating. ESPN’s Raiders-Broncos “MNF” game earned a 8.9 rating (13.9 million viewers) (THE DAILY).
ON THE RISE: Nielsen data shows that ESPN's coverage of the '13 MLB season delivered a 14% ratings increase from last year. ESPN finished with a 0.8 U.S. rating in '13, up from a 0.7 in '12. ESPN's audience also was up 8%, averaging 1,101,000 viewers in '13 compared to 1,018,000 in '12....TBS' coverage of MLB Wild Card games -- Reds-Pirates on Wednesday and Rays-Indians on Thursday -- saw an average of 4.7 million viewers, up 2% from '12. The net aired both games on a Friday last year and averaged 4.6 million viewers for those contests....Viewership for Fox Sports K.C.'s coverage of Royals games this season reached an all-time high, with a 70% increase marking the largest in MLB. The 143 regular-season broadcasts averaged a 6.4 household rating, up from a 3.8 in '12. The Royals ranked sixth among all clubs, up from 15th last season. The highest-rated Royals game ever on the net came Aug. 13 with a 12.3 in a game versus the Marlins (THE DAILY).
The charts below list final Nielsen ratings from recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST | DATE | NET | TIME (ET) | RAT. | VIEWERS (000) |
| College Football: South Carolina-UCF | 9/28 | ABC | 12:00-3:45pm | na | na |
| College Football: (regional) | 9/28 | ABC | 3:45-7:00pm | na | na |
| College Football: Wisconsin-Ohio State | 9/28 | ABC | 8:06-11:43pm | 4.0 | 6,751 |
| Lucas Oil Off Road Racing | 9/28 | CBS | 2:00-3:00pm | 0.1 | 426 |
| "College Football Today" | 9/28 | CBS | 3:00-3:30pm | 0.7 | 897 |
| College Football: LSU-Georgia | 9/28 | CBS | 3:30-7:30pm | 4.6 | 7,392 |
| MLB: (regional) | 9/28 | Fox | 1:00-4:00pm | 1.1 | 1,600 |
| College Football: Arizona-Washington | 9/28 | Fox | 7:05-10:27pm | 1.1 | 1,821 |
| EPL: Swansea-Arsenal | 9/28 | NBC | 12:30-2:30pm | 0.5 | 710 |
| Red Bull Traxxas Torc Series | 9/28 | NBC | 2:30-3:30pm | 0.4 | 494 |
| College Football: Oklahoma-Notre Dame | 9/28 | NBC | 3:30-7:15pm | 2.6 | 3,890 |
| "The NFL Today" | 9/29 | CBS | 12:00-1:00pm | 1.9 | 2,868 |
| "NFL on CBS": (single) | 9/29 | CBS | 1:00-4:05pm | 8.2 | 13,264 |
| Bull Riding: 15/15 Bucking Battle | 9/29 | CBS | 5:00-6:00pm | 1.3 | 1,907 |
| "Fox NFL Sunday" | 9/29 | Fox | 12:00-1:00pm | 3.2 | 4,800 |
| "NFL on Fox": (regional) | 9/29 | Fox | 1:00-4:15pm | 9.4 | 15,300 |
| "NFL on Fox": Eagles-Broncos (69%) | 9/29 | Fox | 4:15-7:33pm | 16.1 | 27,000 |
| "The OT" | 9/29 | Fox | 7:33-8:00pm | 7.7 | 12,885 |
| Fishing: FLW Forrest Wood Cup | 9/29 | NBC | 2:30-3:30pm | 0.3 | 489 |
| MLS: Galaxy-Timbers | 9/29 | NBC | 3:30-6:00pm | 0.3 | 433 |
| "Football Night in America" | 9/29 | NBC | 7:30-8:15pm | 5.1 | 8,152 |
| "Sunday Night Football": Patriots-Falcons | 9/29 | NBC | 8:31-11:17pm | 12.5 | 20,493 |
| Liga MX: Chivas de Guadalajara-Atlas | 9/29 | UniMas | 5:50-8:00pm | 0.5 | 898 |
| Liga MX: Cruz Azul-Leon | 9/28 | Univ. | 5:50-8:00pm | 0.4 | 706 |
| TELECAST | DATE | NET | TIME (ET) | RAT. | VIEWERS (000) |
| "Monday Night Football": Raiders-Broncos | 9/23 | ESPN | 8:27-11:43pm | 8.9 | 13,918 |
| "Thursday Night Football": 49ers-Rams | 9/26 | NFLN | 8:30-11:57pm | 4.9 | 7,610 |
| College Football: Ole Miss-Alabama | 9/28 | ESPN | 6:30-9:52pm | 2.3 | 4,022 |
| NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Dover | 9/29 | ESPN | 2:00-5:49pm | 2.4 | 3,969 |
| "Thursday Night Football Pre-Kick" | 9/26 | NFLN | 8:00-8:30pm | 2.0 | 2,952 |
| College Football: Oklahoma State-West Virginia | 9/28 | ESPN | 12:00-4:06pm | 1.9 | 2,788 |
| College Football: Texas A&M-Arkansas | 9/28 | ESPN2 | 7:01-10:22pm | 1.7 | 2,761 |
| "Monday Night Countdown" | 9/23 | ESPN | 6:30-8:27pm | 1.9 | 2,524 |
| College Football: Virginia Tech-Georgia Tech | 9/26 | ESPN | 7:25-10:42pm | 1.5 | 2,314 |
| "The Book of Manning" | 9/24 | ESPN | 8:00-9:30pm | 1.5 | 2,242 |
